Sanford begins vaccinating Good Samaritan, other front-line workers

Dec. 15, 2020

Front-line caregivers at several Good Samaritan Society locations in Sioux Falls were among the first to receive a COVID-19 vaccine today.

Sanford Health’s initial allocation in South Dakota was 3,900 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Additional doses are scheduled to be delivered weekly, along with an expected vaccine from Moderna.

The workers vaccinated by Sanford at three Good Samaritan locations and two other nursing homes are among the first long-term care workers in the country to receive the vaccine.

“I just keep saying to people: This is hope for us,” said Dr. Gregory Johnson, chief medical officer for The Evangelical Good Samaritan Society, which has locations in 24 states and merged with Sanford last year.

“This has been a really difficult nine months … so with a vaccine on the horizon, I think there’s a hope we’re at the beginning of the end.”

Long-term care residents also will be among the first to be vaccinated once there is supply available.

There are about 5,600 nursing home residents in South Dakota, so it would take about 11,000 doses in order to get each person two doses, Johnson said.

Most Good Samaritan locations will be working with CVS or Walgreens to vaccinate residents once the supply is available, he said.

“They come on-site, and their pharmacists or staff do all the vaccination and recording and paperwork.”

The vaccine will roll out in phases but will be continuous with likely full-scale production coming in January, he added.

Decisions on when nursing homes can lift restrictions once residents and staff are vaccinated likely will come from federal and state policymakers, Johnson said.

Some of Sanford Health’s front-line workers also received the vaccine today.

“This is a pivotal moment in the history of medicine that will change the course of the pandemic,” Dr. Mike Wilde, chief medical officer of Sanford USD Medical Center, said in a statement.

“As the largest rural health provider in the country, we have been preparing for months for this very complex effort. Sanford Health teams have been working around the clock to plan for and lead vaccination efforts in Sioux Falls and across our region.”

Sanford invested in enough cold-storage capacity to store almost 500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Its courier network will assist with distribution across four states as more supply becomes available.

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Sanford begins vaccinating Good Samaritan, other front-line workers

Front-line caregivers at several Good Samaritan Society locations in Sioux Falls were among the first to receive a COVID-19 vaccine today.

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